After the Idea

Posted on June 26, 2013

Along with the many James Gandolfini pieces this past week, GQ had an interesting perspective on the writing process for The Sopranos. Like many of us, the writers often struggled with and stressed about what comes after the idea. For them it was how to specifically fill an episode. For us it may be writing the code, finding the ingredients, planning the trip, arranging the gallery or building the presentation. It gets harder when the ten on the confirmation dwindles to the six on the call to the two in the late-night workspace (with many more ‘providing guidance’ of course). After the idea comes the work – the grinding, exhilarating act of making it happen. Don’t stop with the idea.

“Other people have good ideas. And they’re hard to come by. But in another sense, they’re a dime a dozen. Turning an idea into an episode—that’s the grunt work. . . We can all sit around and decide we want to make a Louis XIV table, but eventually somebody has to do the carving.” – David Chase